Deven claims to hate Jayadev’s shallowness and naivety, but their conversation suggests that Deven’s real issue is that Jayadev reminds him of himself—and especially his insignificant, hopeless career (which, to make matters worse, he is about to lose). Indeed, their names make it clear that they are character foils for each other: they share the same root, “dev,” which means “deity.” Like Raj’s job in Cairo, their colleague’s job in the U.S. represents the greener grass on the other side of life, which they will never be able to reach. And their lament about the state of Hindi and the humanities echoes Nur’s complaint that India is trading its rich, unique traditions for shiny, mass-produced technology. Of course, everything they say about Hindi is doubly true for Urdu.